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Supporting the Standards for Mathematical Practice With Exemplars Performance Tasks and Rubric at the Fifth Grade Level

Written By: Deborah Armitage, M.Ed., Exemplars Math Consultant

Summer Blog Series Overview:

Exemplars performance-based material is a supplemental resource that provides teachers with an effective way to implement the Common Core through problem solving. This blog represents Part 6 of a six-part series that features a problem-solving task linked to a CCSS for Mathematical Content and a student’s solution in grades K–5. Evidence of all eight CCSS for Mathematical Practice will be exhibited by the end of the series.

The Exemplars Standards-Based Math Rubric allows teachers to examine student work against a set of analytic criteria that consists of the following categories: Problem Solving, Reasoning and Proof, Communication, Connections and Representation. There are four performance/achievement levels: Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner (meets the standard) and Expert. The Novice and Apprentice levels support a student’s progress toward being able to apply the criteria of a Practitioner and Expert. It is at these higher levels of achievement where support for the Mathematical Practices is found.

Exemplars problem-solving tasks provide students with an opportunity to apply their conceptual understanding of standards, mathematical processes and skills. Observing student anchor papers with assessment rationales that demonstrate the alignment between the Exemplars assessment rubric and the CCSS for Mathematical Content and Mathematical Practice can be insightful for educators. Anchor papers and assessment rationales provide examples of what to look for in your own students’ work. Examples of Exemplars rubric criteria and the Mathematical Practices are embedded in the assessment rationales at the bottom of the page. The full version of our rubric may be accessed here. It is often helpful to have this in hand while reviewing a piece of student work.

Blog 6: Observations at the Grade 5 Level

The final anchor paper and set of rationales we’ll review in this series is taken from a fifth grade student’s solution for the task, “Newspaper Layout.” This task is one of a number of Exemplars tasks aligned to the Number and Operations–Fraction Standard 5.NF.6.

“Newspaper Layout” would be used toward the end of the learning time allocated to this standard. This particular task provides provides fifth graders with an opportunity to apply different strategies to determine how much the mathematics department pays for each part of the layout and the total cost of the advertisement. The task requires students to bring prior conceptual understanding of area and multiplying with money to their solution. In assessing this task, teachers will be able to determine if their students can apply these concepts and multiply mixed numbers.

Students have a variety of strategies to consider in forming their solutions. Some examples include creating a diagram of the newspaper layout, using grid/graph paper to correctly scale the newspaper area layout, applying the formula for area and money calculations or using a table to record the necessary data to support two correct answers. Students may also demonstrate their conceptual understanding of decimals.

5th Grade Task: Newspaper Layout

The newspaper staff is designing a layout to advertise the mathematics department’s “I Love Math” celebration. The newspaper staff will charge the mathematics department for the advertising by finding the number of square inches for each part of the layout. Below is a diagram of the layout. The newspaper staff charges fifty cents per square inch. How much does the mathematics department pay for each part of the advertisement? What is the total cost of the advertisement? Show all of your mathematical thinking.

Common Core Alignments:

Content Standard 5.NF.6: Solve real world problems involving multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem.